José María Velasco was a nineteenth-century Mexican polymath widely known for his landscape painting. Born in Temascalcingo, Mexico in 1840, Velasco studied art at the Academy of San Carlos, a leading art school in Latin America at the time. There, he studied with Italian landscape painter Eugenio Landesio, who encouraged his students to elevate the status of the genre within the fine arts. While training at the academy, Velasco also studied botany and zoology at a nearby medical school, where he developed an interest in botanical drawing. Velasco’s approach to painting at this time can be categorized as academic painting, reflecting the traditional painting style that he adopted while studying with Landesio. Later, when he was in contact with French Impressionists at the turn of the century, Velasco’s work shifted to a softer approach with a greater emphasis on loose brushwork and contrasts in light. The final phase of his career is distinguished by a more personal approach, indicating the maturity and confidence of late work.
Velasco became a leading proponent of landscape painting after completing his studies at the academy and went on to represent Mexico in international exhibitions and expositions, such as the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889. In addition to serving as a national representative of Mexico within the international art scene, Velasco was deeply invested in the development of art and science in Mexico, viewing landscape painting not only as a nationalist representation of the country but also a form of documentation of the changes underway with the arrival of industrialization and mass transit. He died in Mexico City in 1912. His work is held in museums throughout Mexico and collected by international institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum and National Gallery of Art, London.